Meet the lawyers
by it's meme xP
Summary: Melissa &Michael are probably the sweetest girl &nicest guy you'll meet; they're polite,nice to everyone &don't like seeing people left out. Then how is it possible they're part of Courtney's shark-like legal team? Sorry any DxC fans 4 what u might read
1. Chapter 1

**Meet the lawyers**

The contestants and crew of Total Drama swam for their lives as the lava cascaded behind them, down the once beautiful island. Following Chris's boat, they finally arrived in one piece albeit completely soaked and exhausted on a nearby beach.

"That finale was... AWESOME! The ratings are gonna go through the roof" cheered Chris.

The contestants glared at the heartless host (at least the ones who could still muster any energy did).

"You have got to be kidding me!" yelled Courtney, "You put us through hell for 3 seasons, exploited us for your own benefits and seriously put our lives in danger (yet again)! If you think I'm going to let you live this down, then you clearly have learned nothing from your previous encounter with my lawyers!" she rants while calling them on her (thankfully unharmed) PDA.

Meanwhile, Heather, having been able to stand up, walked up to the soon-to-be dead man. "Even more importantly, I busted my ass trying to win and after coming so close, I end up with NOTHING? This isn't over Mclean! You, or more like what's left of you after Courtney's lawyers get a hold of you again, are gonna be the target of A LOT of revenge seekers, notably me!" She walks off fuming, having very little energy left but still plotting Chris' imminent doom.

"Ugh! As much as I hate, and I do mean HATE agreeing with Heather, this is seriously the last straw, you 'gonna pay this time Chris" LeShawna said.

"Yeah man! That was horrible! You have hurt more people than I have hurt animals, and that's saying something" stated DJ, a sad look in his eyes.

"Guys! We have bigger problems, come over here" Tyler shouted from further along the beach.

Most campers started to gather around him and some gasped at the sight before them. A burnt, trampled and, in short, horrifyingly injured Alejandro was washed up on the beach. Not far away was another disturbing sight as a green, burnt and strangely twitching Ezekiel still held the now useless burned briefcase to his chest.

"Great! Just great! Because I need more lawsuits on my back" Chris sarcastically said. He then motioned to Chef who dragged the two misfortunates away, grumbling something along the lines of 'I hate my life'.

"Now that all that's over with" Chris continued nonchalantly, earning angry looks from the people around him, to wish he acted oblivious, "Go to the hotel we had the losers stay at and don't bother me until your plane to Canada arrives." And with that he walked away.

After a while, pretty much everyone had managed to get up on their feet.

Bridgette and Geoff were surprisingly not making out but arguing about Bridgette's supposed remaining feelings for Alejandro, her gasp at his sad state indicating she might still care.

Katie, Sadie, Beth and Lindsay were listening to LeShawna trash-talk about Heather, agreeing to her every word.

Courtney, having finished her call, was questioning Heather about her actions in the finale which eventually turned into a discussion about their hate for the entire show.

Trent was sitting, back against a palm tree, humming a tune, with Noah reading a book, Justin examining his face in a mirror for any harm done as Harold talked to them about one of the many camps he attended and all trying their best to hide a scared friend, unbeknown to Sierra who was searching high and low for her 'Codykins'.

Duncan and Gwen were off in their own corner talking about horror movies or commenting about people (Harold's pancake butt, Courtney's whining, Alejandro's manipulation, yadda yadda yadda…)

Lastly, DJ, Tyler, Eva and Izzy were pulling together to help Owen get to shore, which he did eventually after grueling efforts.

"Finally! That's everyone!" Eva sighed, "I'm going to the hotel. Can't believe I'm this tired after a physical effort, then again, hoisting Owen up is harder than any training I've ever done, or ever invented"

"Yeah, I'm beat too" said Tyler as he and DJ headed after her.

"Izzy's coming with" Izzy piped up.

Seeing them go and not having much left to do there, the others also started making their way to the hotel for some well-needed rest. Except for Sierra, still staying a bit longer to look for Cody who had managed to slip out unnoticed thanks to the help of the former Drama Brothers plus Owen and Noah.

Later in the evening, the teens were in their new 'rooms' setting up their things for the night, clearly in a less than cheery mood. For you see, after Sierra burned the Jumbo Jet, Chris had to cut back on the budget, which meant the contestants had to sleep in two cheap dormitories the hotel usually rented for school trips. But at least it had the right amount of beds, 12 in the boys' dorm and 12 in the girls'.

Of course, what the unfortunates didn't know is that Chris and Chef each had their own comfortable spacious rooms, with large couches, TVs and mini-fridges (like they needed any more reasons to hate them).

Suddenly, an all too familiar sound was heard. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran outside in a unified thought: 'please be our plane home, please be our plane home'.


	2. Chapter 2

In front of them was indeed a plane, but a small few-passengers one that had dropped off 4 people who were waving goodbye to their pilot.

At their head was a middle-aged man, about 50 years old or so, with graying hair and green eyes in a black business suit, white shirt and black tie.

Next to him was another man, somewhere in his 40s, black hair and eyes, also in a business suit but a marine blue one with light blue shirt underneath.

The two people behind them were a boy and a girl around their 20s, the boy was a brunette with honey-colored eyes wearing a grey shirt and blue jeans while the girl had dark blond hair and green eyes wearing a purple shirt and light gray jeans.

As the contestants examined the new arrivals, they had stopped waving and were talking to Chris who was already standing next to them. The new girl stopped taking part in the conversation and looked at the group in front of the hotel.

After a few seconds, her gaze got fixed on a point and her eyes grew a bit wider, but she then smiled and tugged on the boy's arm heading towards the group.

"Courtney! Courtney!" she called. At the sound of her name, the brunette girl shifted her attention from Chris and the eldest man's conversation to her caller.

"Yes, I- Melissa? Mel, is that really you?" she sounded uncharacteristically exited as she met the girl halfway and they hugged.

"Yeah, how many law-practicing 18-year-olds do you know?" the one now known as Melissa said jokingly.

"Man, I swear you're more into the lawsuit than the lawyers" Courtney replied chuckling.

"Hehe, you know me, I can't help it. I'm just waiting for the day I'll be able to officially practice it"

"I know, it's okay, don't think about it too much now, but I still can't believe you're here! How did you convince your parents?"

"They already knew that the case meant a lot to me, but knowing Uncle Fred was coming too got them to accept"

"Good, you need a break, and don't stress about your diploma, you'll be done before you know it." "Although not as fast as Michael did…" Courtney added.

"Hey Court" the boy said finally reaching them.

"Hi Mike" the tan girl responded with a smile.

"Is she still whining about getting her degree?" he asked Courtney who nodded, both looking at Melissa with a knowing smile.

"How did you do it? You're only 22 and you've already had it since last year" Melissa asked Michael.

"I guess I was always good at these things" he replied smugly.

"Right… like the way you took forever to finish your first case" Melissa teased.

"Which by the way was my lawsuit, thanks a lot" added Courtney sarcastically. "But I got better food in the end which was totally worth it." She looked at Chef and shuddered.

"Yes, yes, I'm great, hold the applause" the young lawyer joked, earning laughs from the two others.

"So how long will you be staying?" Courtney remembered to ask.

"A few of days, enough to evaluate the situation with Chris, and we'll most likely take the same plane back as you, not that Chris can object or anything" the other girl said with a smug smile.

The 3 then started making their way to the hotel, the new 2 politely saying "hello" when they saw the former competitors looking at them.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Guys," Courtney turned towards the newcomers "this is the cast."

"We know; we had to watch the episodes for information regarding the lawsuit" noted Michael.

Turning back to the cast, she introduced "These are Michael and Melissa, lawyer and law student. He was assigned my first lawsuit against the show and now this one. She's been helping with legal cases at her uncle's firm since she decided on becoming a lawyer more than two years ago."

"Hi, I'm Cody" the brunette said advancing cautiously. "Could you possibly help me in case I need a…restraining order?" the last two words were just low enough so only the ones close by could hear which, thankfully, did not include Sierra.

"Yeah, I guess…" Michael responded, looking hopefully towards Courtney who just shrugged.

"He has an obsessive stalker" she stated. "Oh!..." he and Melissa said in unison.

"I thought you said you watched the show" Heather questioned, standing next to Courtney.

"Only until we won the lawsuit" the law student explained.

"I'm Heather by the way" "Melissa, and I know from the show" "So you probably hate me, right?"

"Not really… Don't get me wrong, you were mean, but not to the point that the others have in mind. "I was kinda surprised at some of the things they fell for too."

"I know," Heather said chuckling, "sometimes it was so easy I wondered if they were kidding"

"You think taking my mp3 was funny, huh?" Eva threatened.

"Oh! You must be Eva" Melissa said smiling sweetly. "The short-tempered one."

That made Eva snap. "What did you say?" she shouted.

"EEE! I think we might be related because of that" Melissa squealed with a huge grin.

Eva raised half her unibrow at the girl before her and was about to retort when she noticed Courtney fighting a laugh from coming out.

"What?" she said, turning her attention to her.

"Hehe, I was just imagining everyone's reaction if…" she paused, laughed a bit then continued. "Let's just say you haven't seen sweet little Melissa when he gets mad."

"Nor should you wish to" continued Michael, looking a bit scared.

The strong girl found this explanation weird, looking back at overly-sweet-smiling girl.


	3. Chapter 3

"How long have you known each other anyway?" Sadie asked.

"I was like so going to ask that too" Katie jumped in.

"Well, me and Mel have known each other for a long time; we were 8 and 9 I think. My family and hers had history together, that's why her uncle was our lawyer even before his firm became renowned" Courtney explained, gesturing towards the eldest of the two talking to Chris. "So we were introduced when her parents moved the family to Canada."

"Yeah, you see all of my dad's siblings had moved there while my mom was an only child. Being very family oriented, my parents accepted my uncles' and aunts' suggestion and we reunited with the others" Melissa continued. "As for Mike here, word got to Uncle Fred about him almost obtaining his degree after only 2 years so he offered him a job at graduation, something he rarely, if ever, does."

"He said I had great potential and could do really well if guided right, plus I had always admired Mr. Fredrick's work so I accepted. I met Melissa 2 years ago when I got the offer and Court last year when I worked on her lawsuit."

"I helped of course, but even more so because it was Courtney and my determination increased when I saw her elimination episode" Melissa looked around for Harold and glared when she spotted him. Said geek hid behind LeShawna who immediately stood to protect her little 'string bean'.

"It was hard especially since it was the first case I handled, so I wanted to be sure I had everything down. We stayed up late rewatching episodes and going through information files, sometimes pulling all-nighters and then passing out from exhaustion. It would have been hell had Mel not stuck around to help and motivate, so thanks."

"No problem" she replied smiling. "It ended up mostly fun thought."

"They have all the seasons' DVDs here, do you want to watch them since you only saw till half of season 2?" suggested Heather.

"Sure, I'd like that" answered Melissa following her inside with Courtney and Michael.

"Can I come too?" asked Cody. "Yeah man, why not?" Michael agreed.

They entered with Trent, Owen and Noah.

"Izzy wants to see Izzy on TV too" the crazy girl said, jumping up and down and dragging Eva along.

"Justin doesn't mind seeing himself on TV either" the male model added, approaching and unaware he was followed by the inseparable duo.

"Come along, the more the merrier" Melissa ushered smiling. She was about to go in after them when someone grabbed her arm.

"Um… Hi my name's Beth and this is Lindsay" the pigtailed-one ushered to her friend who waved.

"Hi" Melissa simply retorted.

"I just wanted to tell you to watch out for Heather, she's never genuinely nice to someone."

Melissa frowned at this and was about to say something, but LeShawna cut in.

"She's right girl, that witch is nothin' but trouble and so is your little pal Courtney, Shawni would know."

"Yeah, you're like nice and they're like total meanies" Lindsay added.

That was it. "You have no right to judge my friendships or to insult my friends, even less when you barely know me!" Her voice was starting to elevate.

Then she saw Sierra finally coming back from her search in vain, so she took a deep breath and said, "Look, I appreciate your concern and understand Court and Heather have a tendency to want things their way but I know what I'm doing. That aside, you're welcome to watch the DVDs with us."

With that said, she then went into the hotel lodge where the others were gathered on the couches waiting for Heather and Courtney who were setting in the DVDs and looked around for Cody.

She found him next to Michael talking so she made her way quickly and cautiously to them.

"There you are! We were j-" Michael started when he saw her but was soon stopped.

"Later. Cody you need to hide! Quick! I just saw your stalker heading over" she warned.

"How do you know it's Sierra? She only appeared in season 3" said Trent putting some popcorn in his mouth while behind him Owen and Tyler were fighting for the bowl with Noah and DJ shaking their heads disapprovingly at their friends childish behavior.

"It wasn't that hard since she was c-" Melissa started to say but was interrupted by a distant call.

"CODY! WHERE ARE YOU MY CODYKINS? COOODDDDDYYY!"

"Oh crap! Please, please hide me. I managed to slip away because it was life threatening scenario if she gets a hold of me again she will never EVER leave me be, I miss having a normal life, with ANY type of respect for privacy or personal space" he practically cried.

"Poor Cody" said Bridgette to Geoff, having heard the guy's plea. "We have to help him."

"Don't worry bro, I have the perfect hiding place" he reassured Cody while leading him to a nearby closet. "Me and Bridge use to hide her all the time and no one found out."

"GEOFF!" Bridgette cut him off, wide eyed, then dragged him away blushing.

"Perfect man, you'll hide here until Sierra passes then you're safe" DJ said happily.

"But what if she finds me, one of you has to stay with, in case." He looked around hopefully.

"I would help you dude but I'm too big for it to fit us both" Trent explained apologetically.

"Same here man" Owen said, Michael, Tyler and DJ nodding too and then all turned to Noah.

"What?" the bookworm said noticing this. "No way! Plus I can't hold off Sierra."


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh for the love of God!" Melissa exclaimed face-palming. "She's almost here, I'll go." And with that the two hid in the closet while the others sat back on the couch acting as casual as possible.

It was a close call since about a minute later, a loud "CODY!" was heard followed by a thump. Inside the closet the poor guy braced for impact but surprisingly it never came. A few minutes later a nock was heard and the closet opened.

"Coast's clear" said a grinning Tyler. "What happened?" asked Melissa coming out.

"Hehe, well-" started Owen but burst out laughing. "We were all sitting on the sofa watching when Sierra walked in," DJ continued for him, "it was dark so seeing a brunette boy sitting with us she mistook Michael for Cody and jumped in his lap hugging him tightly."

"Noticing the bigger built she realized her mistake, apologized shocked and ran away blushing madly" Noah finished with a smirk.

"Then, from now on, stay close to Mike and I guarantee she won't come close for a while" Melissa instructed Cody who turned to his new insurance policy asking "Would you mind?"

"Nah man, don't worry about it, stick with me and you'll be fine" Michael reassured him.

"Now how about we finally watch those DVDs" Melissa added with a sigh as she sat next to Courtney.

It was very late when the contestants finished watching all 3 seasons and were heading towards their rooms.

Passing the reception desk, the teenagers noticed Melissa's uncle and his coworker arguing calmly with the manager but shooting Chris murderous glares. The host was smiling sheepishly but fear was evident in his eyes as he scooted behind the receptionist who himself looked kind of nervous.

Michael, Melissa and Courtney made their way over to them puzzled, followed by the rest of the group.

"Mr. Thomas, what's wrong?" Michael asked the second eldest lawyer.

"He is" the man responded deepening his glare at Chris who just widened his smile and laughed nervously.

"What did he do this time, Uncle Fred?" Melissa said turning to the graying man.

Her uncle sighed visibly annoyed but kept his composure and said: "The last stunt he pulled with the volcano forced the island's inhabitants to evacuate and stay at hotels which means that every hotel within reach is full and we have no place to book."

Needless to say the numbers of glares Chris was receiving increased at that moment.

"He won't get away with this, will he?" Melissa said but it sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Of course not sweetie," replied her uncle with the nicest smile directed towards the manager then Chris "Our friend Chris here is a responsible adult who takes responsibility for his actions, right?" Melissa must get that from him since this seemed like a statement too.

"Yes he is," Thomas continued, bringing Chris next to him like they were old friends "he's smart too, able to learn from his mistakes, aren't you?" Do they all do that?

"And we don't need to go through as much trouble as last time, now do we?" Now it was Michael's turn.

The four lawyers were turned o Chris with questioning looks to which the host simply nodded, not daring any other movement.

"Good" Thomas said leaving his side and facing the manager, continued, "In your opinion, what arrangements can we put together for a simple couple of nights for 4 people?"

The manager, who seemed somehow pleased at the former scene (he had never really liked the cheap man), proposed: "Well, since we have Mr. McLean's cooperation, he could generously provide you with the 2 luxury rooms he booked. They can accommodate 2 persons each comfortably since they are equipped with a single bed, a large couch that can double as a bed, a stocked mini-fridge, a high-definition television…"

"Wait!" Chris suddenly cut him off noticing the angry looks on the TD cast's faces, "you can't seriously make me and Chef stay with those…" he notices the cast's 'about to kill you' looks "wonderful teenagers that I cherish as my own." He finished with a grin.

"But you said yourself that you had two boys in the hospital; so you have two free beds in the boys' dormitory." The manager replied.

The boys in the cast suddenly had revenge written all over their faces and Chris gulped.

"As much as you deserve it for what you've put these kids through," Mr. Fredrick sighed, "I refuse to allow a person to be harmed if I have some say in the matter. Michael, Thomas, would you two accept to switch places with Chris and Chef and sleep in the boy's dormitory?"

"I don't mind," was Michael's response, "if that's ok with you guys, of course." The rest of the boys either shrugged or welcomed him smiling.

"Well, um… I kind of would have preferred not to…" The 43-year old lawyer replied, nervously looking at his boss.

Mr. Fredrick though for a moment and took a look around; at Chris, at the manager, at Thomas, at Melissa, at Michael, then his eyes landed on the male cast for a second afterwards he turned and said: "Melissa, would you mind switching with Thomas?"

Melissa shrugged and said no.

The manager looked at the eldest man confused. "Isn't she your niece?" The other nodded. "Then, uhm, aren't you worried about her sharing a dorm with about a dozen teenage boy?"

Mr. Fredrick took a second to look back at the boys in question, then at his niece and smiled. "With them? Don't worry about her; she's dealt with criminals for more than two years, not to mention that some of the boys she befriends aren't my brother's favorite. I doubt this bunch is a threat. It's more like them I'm wo-… Never mind, I know my niece pretty well and we've gotten even closer since she started spending time with me at work too, so trust me on the matter, ok?"

The manager nodded, the elder man seemed to know what he was talking about.

The teenagers, though, were wide-eyed. Sure, their parents and family members trusted them on their own to a certain extent since they allowed them to be on a show like Total Drama but they were positive they didn't trust them THAT much.

Some of the guys turned to Michael expecting a surprised reaction but he just smiled at Melissa who smiled back.

"It's settled then!" announced Thomas with a clap. "Do I get the bed too?" he asked looking at Fredrick who just raised an eyebrow at him. "Right, couch here I come." He concluded.

With that, everyone went to their assigned sleeping place. Melissa kissed Courtney and her uncle goodnight before they parted, Michael just waved.


	5. Chapter 5

At the girls' dormitory, the room was full of whispers about what had happened just earlier.

"She's going to try and take my Cody away from me! I just know it!" wailed Sierra.

"Ooo! Izzy knows what they're doing now!" the crazy girl said with a mischievous smile.

"What?" asked Lindsay sweetly clueless.

"Nothing Linds, I'll explain it to you later" said Beth blushing.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about these things honey." LeShawna replied.

"I don't think she's like that" Sadie piped up.

"Me neither" added Katie.

"She's not, is she? Courtney?" Bridgette asked, kind of worried about another girl sharing a dorm with her Geoff.

"I can tell the whole 'poor little sweetie' thing isn't all there is to her and she got along pretty fast with most of the guys already but she only looked at the little lawyer guy when she switched so I think your little shmoopy-whatever you call him is in the clear" noted Heather.

"Huh! Not even!" Courtney intervened "They spend most of their days together; if something was there she'd tell me. Plus Mike had plenty of times with just the two of them and even though she's kind of a shy guy, Mel would have noticed and said something first. She's preferred shy guys anyway ever since she and a not-so-shy pig broke up." Courtney clenched her fists. Gwen hid behind LeShawna.

"Shy?..."said Sierra wide-eyed, "She's gonna take my CODYYYY!" she continued to wail.

Heather rolled her eyes at her and pressed Courtney on: "What happened?"

"Not much," the other girl responded, "we were out with friends, a guy comes over and says 'hi' to one of Melissa's friends who introduces him to everyone and he spends the rest of the evening with us. The next day, Mel's friend comes in skipping happily (don't ask she's strange like that) and tells Mel that this guy really likes her. Mel turns to me and mouths 'Help!' while I can't help but laugh remembering how the guy had already been glued to her after about 2 minutes for the rest of the time. But her friend seemed so happy about having brought together two of her friends that Mel decided to give it a chance. The guy turned out to be an over-protective, possessive, macho idiot which didn't really suit my little outspoken friend so one day he had gone too far she slapped him square in his smug little face and swore that any guy that seems too confident or cocky towards her has a 90% chance of severe injury." She ended with a small laugh.

"I'm starting to like this girl" said Eva with a sideways smile.

Meanwhile, in the boys' dorm, Melissa and Michael were unpacking their suitcases and setting up with some help from DJ and Cody.

Noah was reading a book, Harold a comic and Trent was writing (probably a new song).

Geoff, Duncan, Tyler and Justin were playing cards. Silence filled the air except for the occasional: "Where do you want to put this?" from DJ or Cody.

Once they were done, Michael fell back on his bed sighing: "Finally." He then spotted the 4 guys playing cards and asked what they were playing.

"Crazy eight" answered Geoff with a grin. "And I'm kicking their asses at it." Duncan stated smugly.

"Do you know how to play it?" Tyler questioned.

"Yeah, we used to play it as kids but I haven't played cards in years except for that time with your brother and Court." He noted looking at Mel.

"Courtney playing card games? Yeah, right!" sorted Duncan. "Courtney doesn't play any games. Too busy with her fucking PDA or off doing homework or dumb-ass lists."

"Shut it grass head!" Melissa suddenly snapped. "You've dated Courtney for what? A couple of month? I've known Court for about 10 years! You DO NOT tell us what Courtney does or does not do! Got it?" She looked serious and her voice had gone from sweet and cutesy to 'I can bite your head off'… The guys looked taken back but Mike looked at her casually and said: "You get used to it". Then whispered to DJ and Cody who were right next to him: "Now in a second…"

With the friendliest voice they heard: "My whole family is a fan of card games, so is Courtney's; it's a way to bring the families together after long hard workdays or at weekend lunches." All trace of anger was gone; it was like the previous minutes had not taken place.

"Do you guys have an extra deck?" she continued with a smile.

"Uhm… Yeah…" Justin said handing her the pack of cards.

"Thanks" she replied then turned to DJ, Cody and Michael: "How 'bout it?"

Mike got off his bed enthusiastically, Cody nodded mutely and followed while DJ strangely smiled and sat next to them on the floor closing the small circle they had formed.

"It was nice of you to defend your friend like that" DJ told her quietly once they were seated. "He wouldn't stop complaining about her to me and Geoff for so long that I wanted to hit him just so he would stop saying hurtful things about someone behind their backs but Momma says violence isn't the way, though I'm still glad you stood up for her even if she's not around. It's also a good thing you can control your anger and not take it out on innocent bystanders because I honestly do not want to be on the receiving end if you get angry again."

Melissa laughed at the big guy's honestly scared expression: "Thanks DJ."


	6. Chapter 6

Back in the girls' dorm:

"What about the guy that came with her? Does this mean he's single?" Katie asked Courtney.

"Yeah! He's like totally hot!" added Sadie.

"Uhm, yeah, he is but I don't think you guys are… you know… compatible. You see, he's hardworking, determined, incredibly smart and shy except in court because he knows he has to be strong-willed and outspoken there. He's also independent, focused on academics and takes his job seriously whereas you guys are bubbly and hyper all the time, very dependent on one another and I'm sorry, but I haven't seen you take anything seriously ever since day 1 plus you get easily distracted or sidetracked."

"Yes, well… well, uhm...well, all that maybe true but we don't have to be compatible, right?" said Sadie as Katie nodded. "I mean, you and Duncan were together so…"

"Ugh! Never again!" Courtney cut in. "Please don't remind me of that horrible phase of my life. Do not compare anything to that and expect a good outcome. May all your relationships be happy, genuine and as unlike that thing as you possibly can."

At that point Gwen was almost entirely hidden behind LeShawna.

"There, there…" said Beth awkwardly patting her back trying to comfort her.

"It's ok Carla, he was a meanie anyway." Lindsay tried too.

"Oh boo-hoo, so your skinny white boy left, you guys are too nice trying to sheer her up, she was an even bigger meanie, Lindsay don't you remember?" LeShawna cut in.

"But being mean to meanies doesn't make you nice either LeDonna." Lindsay replied.

Everyone was shocked at how such a simple sentence from a simple girl like Lindsay and was strangely even… wise!

Beth smiled proudly at her best friend who smiled back oblivious to the impact she had just made.

Again in the boys' dorm, (for some reason this narrator likes shifting a lot, I honestly don' know why) we find Melissa teaching DJ, Harold, Noah and Trent a new card game. The other 4 were still at the same game probably at their 100s turn by now. Cody an Michael were sitting on their respective beds, that they chose side by side, talking.

"Man, how glad are you that Total Drama's over?" asked Michael. "No ore Chris, no more challenges, no more drama…"

"No more Gwen…" Cody sighed more to himself than to Mike.

"You still really like her don't you?" the other said noticing his expression.

"Yeah… I can't help it, even after everything; ignoring me for 3 seasons, going from one guy to another without even giving me a second glance, not caring about any of the strong feelings I have for her, I mean… I know I'm not the most desirable guy out there but I can't help but feel like she's listed me under 'not a chance in hell'." He confessed, a small tear threatening to fall.

"I get it… believe me I understand but there's a saying that goes: 'you can't make someone love you just as much as you can't make yourself stop loving someone', trust me; I've been there." Michael trailed off.

"What ever happened can't be as bad as what I've been through, can it?" wondered Cody.

"Huh, judge for yourself: I used to know this girl since I was a kid, we were inseparable, always making each other laugh, had a million inside jokes and never got bored talking. Our friends used to say we were perfect together so we used to joke and pretend we were. Then one day we were older, they guy she and almost every girl in our school consider 'perfect' comes along and -poof- she's gone. As far as I know they were on and off for a couple of years but then I graduated so we lost touch but during the time I was still in school we were still friends and she was still pretty much the same funny nice person except when he was around because then nothing else existed to her, she would be glued to him, laughing at anything remotely funny he says and listening attentively to his every word."

"Harsh" was all Cody could speak out.

"You move on, besides I knew the guy a bit and he didn't know I was a close friend of her so judging by the way he talked about her to his friends and the way she talked about him I think they really did care about each other so I guess if they're happy let them be."

"I guess so, but you can probably find someone that cares about you again, whereas I will always be considered as nothing more than just a friend." Cody let out a frustrated sigh.

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked looking at him as if he was crazy. "We've been trying to hide you from Sierra nonstop ever since we got here."

Cody sighed: "Sierra… Don't remind me, she's obsessive so she doesn't count."

"Don't be so hard on her," replied Michael with a small smile, "she seemed like a shy sweet girl when she thought I was you, plus she obviously care about you a lot." That didn't seem to reassure Cody so he thought about his friend's problem for a minute then his face lit up.

"Look bottom line, the problem is that to you she's this stranger who one day walked into your life already knowing way too much about you and still wanting more, right? But what you need to consider is that to her, you're not a stranger and you didn't suddenly appear in life. To her, you're a person she watched for long periods of time at his highs and at his lows while still cheering him on. She saw a likeable even lovable person that slowly, episode by episode, she started to care more and more about but unfortunately could never reach so she felt the need to fill the void of your absence and fell closer to you which resulted in her invading actions."

Seeing Cody's dumbfounded face he clarified: "I took some psychology courses while studying law because I thought it would help understanding peoples behaviors and the reasons behind their action, I guess I'll give you a moment to think about it." Michael said hopping off his bed as Cody nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

He walked over to Melissa and asked: "What are you guys up to?"

"Teaching them casse-tête" she replied.

"Winning" added Noah dully but a slight smirk was apparent on his lips.

"Well, it is a very difficult strategy game" commented Mike.

"That I've been losing for more than 9 rounds" added Trent clearly not amused with the game anymore. "Want to take my place?" he asked Michael who accepted smiling.

Trent sat in Michael's place, grabbed his guitar that lay nearby and started strumming absentmindedly.

"By the way, do you play any instruments?" he asked Melissa.

"Never have, though I love music. I just sing sometimes and was even in a band for while." She replied.

"What was it called?" he continued. "The psychotic A-types." She answered with a little laugh.

"Wait, wasn't that the name of Courtney's band?" Harold piped up.

"Yeah," Mel assured, "she and a bunch of girls from her music class founded it then some of their friends joined in later for support. We had two drummers, two pianists, a base guitarist, a lead guitarist, a violinist, a lead singer and 4 backup singers which I was one of. Courtney was our lead guitarist, she originally wanted to be the violinist since she already mastered it but we had 2 violinists and no one on lead guitar so she volunteered and actually became really good at it pretty quickly. In addition she or one of our pianists would sometimes sing with our lead if it was a duet."

"But were you guys any good?" asked Noah sarcastically.

"Hehe, surprisingly enough yes" she laughed, "we played regularly at school events and at the local music hall even getting invites to play in nearby cities but unfortunately we all had many other responsibilities that in the beginning we could get by because we were many and we could switch and replace each other if necessary but it became too time-consuming so one by one we had to leave."

"So you were 12 girls in one band and you made it work?" Trent noticed astonished "We were only four and we kept fighting, remember Harold?" said boy nodded.

"I guess it was because we weren't really in it competitively, as I said most of us were just there to support our friends and none of us wanted a career in music we were more doctor/engineer/ lawyer types."

"I guess that makes sense." Trent shrugged but no one probably heard him as a loud cry that sounded something like 'HALLELUIA!' was heard but if you listened closely you'd make out that the sound was actually: "FOOOOOODDD!"

Everyone ran towards the source of the cry to find a tied up Chef in a corner and a blissfully eating Owen in the other.

"This is what you've been at all this time?" Noah asked dryly.

"But I swam a lot today and he wouldn't let me have a midnight snack." Owen whined.

The others were speechless just staring at the scene except for Izzy who had on the biggest crazy smile and stated proudly: "I taught him that" which caused the disbelieving eyes to turn to her.

Finally, after minutes of watching Owen stuffing his face and Chef squirming around trying to get free, Cody, DJ, Tyler, Justin, Noah and Harold guided the big lovable lug back to their dorm.

Lindsay, Beth, Gwen, Bridgette, Sierra, Heather, Katie and Sadie went to their dorm too.

As for Geoff, Duncan, Izzy, LeShawna, Michael, Trent, Courtney and Eva, they stayed back in case Chef was in a murderous mood once untied. Their precaution proved right as the 8 teens could only hold him back with difficulty once Courtney and Michael had removed the table cloth Owen had used to wrap him up, (yes, Izzy was proud).

After a while, the fuming cook had cooled down and just headed back to his room mumbling angrily, so did the tired bunch.

After a few steps, Chef took a turn on his way to his room and found himself face to face with a certain law student who simply said: "Hi there Chef".

To which he replied irritated: "What do you want maggot?"

She frowned and replied: "One- Who the hell do you think you are talking to me that way? And two- I just need some information that I'm sure you're kind enough to gladly give me." She ended with a sarcastic smile.

"What makes you so sure, girly?" he glared.

"Oh nothing, nothing, just the fact that you're a kind honest man with nothing to hide, correct?" she smirked dominantly.

"You've got nothin' on me" he strongly stated to which the person facing him simply raised an eyebrow defiantly. Chef was getting nervous but tried his best not to show.

"You- you don't" he tried to sound strong again, "don't you?"

The same smile not leaving her lips. "Wanna bet?" She paused. "Now don't worry, I'm not asking for much, it's simple: I just need to know where Chris made you take the two injured contestants. That's easy, right? You guys have nothing to hide. Well, at least not about this matter."

Chef thought about her question for a while, then his thoughts drifted to the possible things they could have about him and so he reluctantly told her the whereabouts of Alejandro and Ezekiel. They parted ways but not before Melissa said amicably: "Friendly advice: this conversation did not take place and is not over if this information is incorrect."


	8. Chapter 8

Entering the dorm, she found the boys back to their card games.

"You know where?" Michael asked. "Yeah," she replied, "I'll try to go tomorrow, you're coming with?" He nodded and went back to his game.

"Go where?" asked Trent, bored and trying to make conversation.

Tired, she replied the first boring thing that came to mind: "The bathroom."

Trent looked at her skeptically. "Seriously?"

Realizing her mistake she stayed calm and tried to correct it: "Yeah, I need to go to the bathroom (she honestly did; that's why it was the first thing that popped into her mind) but I'm scared make my way there alone. You know; foreign country, defenseless girl, unknown place, long way, I prefer having someone I know with me just in case and Michael is too tired now from our flight and holding down Chef so I'll just wait for tomorrow, it's no problem, better safe than sorry." She had a perfect poor little helpless girl look than honest Trent thankfully bought.

"Oh, ok." He simply said then thinking about it offered: "I can come with you if you need so."

Supporting her excuse and actually needing to go, she accepted.

On the way, they started talking about the card game they were playing earlier, how to play it, how to win it, how Trent didn't like it because he didn't win but won't admit it, about music, his band, hers, how long he had been playing guitar, how many instruments he can play (1 :P), how many instruments Courtney can play, how much he and Courtney have in common, about the whole love triangle drama…

"This whole thing is really messed up" sighed Trent frustrated.

"Of course it is, why else would they cause it?" she answered casually.

"Wha-?" was all Trent could choke out. She looked at him calmly but confused by his reaction.

She let out a small surprised "Huh" and tilted her head to the side in thought, then added "guess they didn't tell you." "Tell me what?" he asked even more puzzled.

"I was told only a few knew but I thought you were one of them, too bad you're a smart sweet guy, you should know" she said more to herself than the confused boy next to her, then noticing him again explained: "Everything you do, all your reactions, all your fights, all the drama, it's planned, caused, plotted or simply pushed or increased so that they can get ratings. It's pretty obvious, are you seriously telling me you didn't know?"

She waited for a response; it never came since he was just looking at her wide-eyed and deep in thought, so she went on: "They have you all monitored 24/7 whether you're competing, eliminated or off the show. They have infiltrated people and provoked events that you have to accept as long as your contract is valid which, by the way, is much longer than Chris is telling you. Courtney figured part of it out and assigned the rest to us. When we found out the deal, we advised Court that the best and probably only thing to do is to go along and try to be as dramatic as possible since the show doesn't keep you on if you compete well but for the drama you cause and the number of fans who watch it. Why do you think Alejandro and Sierra were added while Eva, Katie and Sadie didn't come back? Why do you think they put you and Gwen on different teams? So you two would be against each other, she'd spend more time with Duncan who would be the closest person to her in that situation while you would miss her terribly and become crazy jealous. Why did they wait until the middle of season 2 for Courtney to come back? So she and Duncan would get time together after Gwen left. Why was she put on the opposite team? So that what she would need to do to win would have to be against Duncan. Why do you think Duncan left at the beginning of season 3? Why were Gwen and Courtney put on the same team with Heather? Why do you think _you_ weren't in season 3? Gwen and Courtney had to become friends preferring each other to Heather while Duncan was not there to bring them apart but this causes them to miss him, then he suddenly comes back, confusion of feelings, friendship, love, loyalty, longing, mixed with teenage naïve judgment, hormones, selfish disregard for morals and the staged perfect opportunity. Why was the door unlocked? And you weren't there so that she wouldn't think of you and possibly not go with the plan. And this is just one event."

No words could come out of him but since they had arrived near the bathroom Mel left his side and headed there. Before she went in she looked back at him with a sad but comforting smile and said: "I'm really sorry sweetie but messing with your love life isn't the worst that they're doing…"

She said the last words rather quietly then smiled sweetly at Trent again and said with a more upbeat voice: "I'll just be a second then we can go back and get so sleep because I'm waayyy too tired."

She couldn't hide a yawn as she finished her sentence and went in.

Trent just stood there still deep in thought and as he waited he unconsciously slumped down and ended up sitting on the floor his back to the wall.


End file.
